Which is just fine with him, for coaching is where Cleary expects to turn when he’s done playing.
“I think coaching is my calling,” Cleary said. “You never know until you’re fully immersed in it, but right now, coaching is where I’m leaning.”
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The question is when will Cleary finish playing? He expects to sign with Detroit again over the summer — as Red Wings general manager Ken Holland makes good on a verbal, handshake agreement a few years ago — head to training camp and then another year in Grand Rapids if his aching shoulders hold up.
That would be 19 years playing pro hockey, 20 if you include his 2004-05 season in Sweden during the first NHL lockout.
He knows his days in the NHL are done, and injuries to the knees and shoulders might even prevent him from playing next season in the AHL.
Cleary also knows that if he’s unable to skate, there will be a job for him within the organization.
But as Holland says, at the end of the day, everyone in hockey operations is a scout and that means watching 150-plus hockey games every year.
Cleary’s old teammate, Kris Draper, is a special assistant to Holland and is busy scouting world championships, world juniors, world under-18s, the Ivan Hlinka tournament, not to mention college games around Michigan and junior hockey in Ontario.
“At least with coaching I’m on sort of the same schedule I’ve been on my whole life,” Cleary said.
Two assistants’ jobs in Detroit recently became available when Pat Ferschweiler was moved from behind the bench to the press box, while Tony Granato left to take over the Wisconsin college program.
Doug Houda has since been hired replace Granato.
However, it may be a bit early for Cleary to jump behind an NHL bench just yet.
If nothing opens up in the Detroit system in the next couple of years, there’s always the possibility of Toronto, where Leafs’ coach Mike Babcock was always a big supporter of Cleary.
